The ever increasing spread of computer networks (especially the Internet), together with the availability of huge amounts of audio and video contents, has made it extremely easy and common to exchange audio and/or video contents among network nodes, in particular among users.
Of course, such a huge amount of data should be managed appropriately.
In a big digital archive, e.g. the file system stored on a hard disk of a personal computer, it may happen that there are several copies of the same file (in general having the same file name); it is also possible that there are several copies or several slightly different versions of the same audio and/or video sequence (in general having different file names). The user is often unaware of this situation; and even if he/she ever notices it, the user avoids “cleaning” the digital archive because it is a time-consuming and difficult task (especially for those audio and/or video sequences for which it is not possible to use the file name as a choice criterion in order to identify two identical or similar sequences).
Audio and/or video files often include descriptive data (also referred to as “metadata”) which is added to the audio and/or video data in order to provide information about the files themselves, such as: title, duration, image resolution, compression and coding algorithms, quality, etc.
This data is used by electronic audio and/or video players for decoding the file correctly and for providing information about the audio and/or video sequence being played.
Software packages are available on the market which allow the user to search for files based on one or more descriptive features. The operating systems of the Microsoft Windows family include a tool that allows to search the file system for a file on the basis of the file name and/or of words contained in its text. Many e-mail programs have a function that allows to search the message archive for an e-mail message according to subject, date, sender, receiver, or words contained in its text. Even though these packages can help the user manage his/her digital archives, the management of great amounts of files is however burdensome for the user, and therefore it is practiced only to a small extent or not at all.
The general object of the present invention is to facilitate and improve the management of great amounts of files, in particular of files relating to audio and/or video sequences.
More specifically, the object of the present invention is to facilitate and improve the storage of great amounts of files, in particular of files relating to audio and/or video sequences.
Said objects are substantially achieved through selection and deletion methods having the functionalities set out in the appended method claims, which are intended as an integral part of the present description.